The Brownsburg North Group Against Annexation, at no cost, is helping remonstrators across the state. If you have have questions or need information, please call 317-286-7316 (click here for a map of our annexation area)
Judge Heather Welsh issued a decision regarding our motion for cost and attorney fees.
Unfortunately, she did not award us attorney fees. We did not really expect her to award us attorney fees, but we tried. And she only awarded us $175 in cost, which is the cost of our initial filing.
We have not yet made a determination as to whether we will be filing a motion to reconsider, however if we were to file this motion the only thing that we would request her to reconsider is the award of cost. Judge Welsh did not award us appellate cost because she felt that she did not have jurisdiction to do so.
Most importantly we did STOP THE ANNEXATION.
I want to thank everyone for your support; it has been a long seven years. (Remembering that this began when all of us received the town’s notification of the proposed annexation in March 2013)
I have met a lot of good people, a few not so good people (you know who you are), and have made many new friends because of town's attempt, so overall it was worth it.
We will be having a meeting on my house probably around mid January to provide ending financial information and to discuss plans to prepare in the event the town attempts to do this again in the future.
Happy Holidays
June 13, 2019 updateWhile most of you have probably already heard, the Indiana Supreme Court on June 5, 2019, issued an opinion. The Court ruled in our favor. The proposed North Annexation is officially stopped!
I want to thank everyone for their support and for all that donated to the Fight Against Brownsburg Annexation Political Action Committee (“FABA PAC”) which enabled the Brownsburg North Group to successfully prevent this unwanted annexation. Click here for the Supreme Court Decision
This decision will prevent the Town from attempting involuntary annexation of this territory for 4 years from the date of this decision. It is important that all of us stay up to date on any plans by the Town. Please continue to contact me with any information that you feel maybe of interest or concern.
Sorry it has been so long since an update, but there is really nothing to update regarding the status of the annexation. We had a Supreme Court Oral argument on September 20, 2018 and still have no word on the decision. We think the court may be waiting to see if the legislature makes any statute changes before making a decision regarding whether or not to accept transfer.
If the statute would change to ban involuntary annexation then there would be no reason to grant transfer. If the statute does not change, the court possibly would grant transfer to make a determination regarding deference provided to the legislative bodies.
The longer the Court takes to make a decision the better, because if the statute does not change, assuming the court rules in our favor, then the Town cannot attempt involuntary annexation of any of these properties until four years after the final ruling.
I want to thank everyone for their continued support.
The Town of Brownsburg filed for appeal of the trial court decision. Their appeal court brief was due in April but the Town requested and was granted an extension. Their brief is now due by May 19, 2017.
After the Town files their brief we will have 30 days to file our reply brief. We will likely request an extension due to the complexity of case.
Donations are needed to continue with our litigation fight. I firmly believe that the only reason the Town is appealing is because they believe we will run out of money and lose by default.
Let’s not let that happen. Please donate today.
Click here for donation information
The ruling still states that the annexation may not proceed. However, the Town filed a notice of appeal with the Indiana Appeal Court on Feb 2, 2017.
What this means:
Our fight is not over, but as always I am sure we will prevail. After all, we have successfully stopped the annexation so far.
Donations are necessary to pay legal fees necessary to continue our litigation fight. It is my belief that the Town thinks that they will deplete our financial resources and we will lose by default; let us not let that happen.
Please consider the amount of money that our litigation efforts have saved you from paying to the Town and PLEASE consider making a donation to reflect at least a portion of your savings.
Your help is needed: Spread the word to let others know that this fight is not over!!
The Town filed a Motion to Correct Error on December 16, 2016. In that Motion the Town states that they plan to appeal.
We will be submitting a Motion in Opposition to Correct Error, which I am currently working on and we will submit this by December 28, 2016.
This was the Town’s way of buying time and generating even more legal fees.
Please feel free to call Sabrina with any questions. 317-286-7316.
Click below for the Town's motion to correct error
These hearings like all others will be held at the Marion County Superior Court 1, Judge Heather Welch.
Marion County City County Building (west side fourth floor)
200 E Washington St
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
The trial court granted Town’s motion to dismiss our declaratory judgment because the remonstrance statue provides the same result only with protection against another annexation for 4 years after we win. There is merit to their argument. We wait for the ruling on contiguity, subdivision and fire services. The actions and comments from the Judge at the July 11th hearing provides us with reason to hope for a ruling that will lead to an evidentiary hearing on Aug 16th, so we will begin to prepare. If we win the town will appeal, if we lose we will appeal. So, it is important that we have many people stating they are adequately protected for fire, police and road maintenance – because all this information will be used in appeal. We cannot add more.
At the present time, our evidentiary hearing is scheduled for August 16-19. Our witnesses will likely be testifying on Aug 18-19. To prepare and to bring others up to date on the annexation litigation there will be a meeting at Sabrina’s house Monday July 25 at 6:30. For those that cannot attend this meeting please let her know a date and time that would be convenient for you.
Town filed five separate motions on July 7, 2016… all nonsense. Further outright wastage of taxpayer dollars.
They filed: Motion to Preclude Testimony of Tricia Leminger ; Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion to Preclude Testimony of Tricia Leminger; Brownsburg's Motion to Strike Certain Evidence Designated in Opposition to Motion for Partial Summary Judgment; Brownsburg's Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion to Strike; Respondents' Motion to Exclude From Public Access
We filed a two-page follow up reply.
This was again just another attempt to deplete our limited financial resources.
Please consider donating to FABA ( Fight Against Brownsburg Annexation) to help cover our legal expenses. Information on where to send donation is located below.
We have a hearing scheduled for July 11, 2016 at 3:30. This hearing is regarding the Town’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and is also our pretrial conference.
Regarding the "motion to dismiss” hearing:
On May 31, the Judge said that she would rule within 30 days concerning our hearing on the Town’s motion to dismiss our declaratory judgment.
As expected, the Town filed a motion on May 31 for a partial summary judgment pertaining to the contiguous issue. The Town claims to be contiguous; we claim that according to case law the territory is not contiguous. The Town is claiming the area is 60% subdivided; we claim that the area is less than 18% subdivided. The Town is claiming that they provide fire protection services; we claim that the area is furnished and provided with fire protection services by the Fire Protection Territory and these services are not considered municipal services by the Town of Brownsburg.
This is just another attempt by the Town to further deplete our limited financial resources.
All this motion really means is that I had to do a lot more paperwork. Our brief in opposition to the Town’s motion had to be filed by July 3 but we have already filed it.
Our funds are getting dangerously low. For those of you who have not donated, please do so right away. For those of you who have already donated and offered to donate again, now is the time.
For those who claim they cannot afford to donate, then I can guarantee that you cannot afford to be annexed into the town. No donation is too small!
DONATIONS ARE VITAL to stop this annexation. I remain confident that we will stop this annexation, as we have already stopped the annexation for the third year now, but money is needed to pay our legal fees.
The countless hours I have invested and continue to invest in this fight are voluntary so I am not getting paid at all. I am doing this for all of us.
Please do not wait. Donate today.
Donations can be dropped off or mailed to the following address:
FABA (Fight Against Brownsburg Annexation)
7210 E County Rd 700 N
Brownsburg, IN 46112
May 31, 2016 1:30 pm Motion to dismiss hearing (relating to declaratory judgment). 30 minutes allotted.
July 11, 2016 3:30 pm Pretrial conference
August 15-19, 2016 9:00 am Remonstrance evidentiary hearing.
All hearing will be held at the Marion County Superior Court 1, Judge Heather Welch.
Marion County City County Building (west side fourth floor)
200 E Washington St
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
March 15, 2016
We went to the court house yesterday only to find out that the Judge had an emergency and our status conference/scheduling hearing was canceled.
The hearing has been rescheduled for next Monday 3-21-2016 at 9:30am. I will publish an update after the hearing.
Judge Heather Welch, Marion Superior Court 1, accepted the appointment as Special Judge and assumes jurisdiction over our annexation remonstrance and declaratory judgment claim against the Town of Brownsburg.
There is a status/scheduling conference set for 3-14-2016 at 11.30am.Dec 25, 2015 Happy Holidays
NO, We have not been annexed
Judge Kincaid declined appointment to our case. The court has randomly selected Judge Matthew Hanson from Morgan County. I will post as soon as I know if he accepts appointment.
At our pretrial conference held on 11-30-2015, Judge Rhett Stuard recused himself from our case. In agreement with the Town, Judge Matthew Kincaid from Lebanon will be the Judge hearing our case. I will let everyone know as soon as we are notified of the hearing dates.
The Town recently filed a motion to dismiss our declaratory judgment claim. I am not concerned about this motion. The appeal court has already ruled that our written remonstrance is valid and we will have an evidentiary hearing on this matter.
I am currently working a brief in opposition to Town’s motion to dismiss our declaratory judgment claim, which we will be filing very soon. This appears to be just another attempt by the town to waste our limited financial resources.
I want to thank the few volunteers’ that were able to come over 12-1-2015 to help with the donation mailers. We sent out 802-donation request, hopefully this will encourage those that have not monetarily donated to send a donation.
I know many have donated their time, which I greatly appreciate, but monetary donations are necessary to pay legal fees.Brownsburg Schools will lose approximately $374,940.92 of their collected property tax revenue.
Brownsburg Library will lose approximately $29,400.75 of their collected property tax revenue.
The Fire Territory will lose approximately $80,868.33 of their collected property tax revenue.
Brown and Lincoln Township will lose approximately $30,867.54 of their combined collected property tax revenue.
Hendricks County will lose approximately $80,868.33 of their collected property tax revenue.
How is this fair??
And the Town of Brownsburg is estimated to gain an additional $743,624.39 in collected property tax revenue and not to mention the increase in assessed value that will occur.
We have a hearing status conference scheduled for 8-24-2015 at 9am with 30 minutes allotted. Hearing will be held at the Courthouse in Danville in Superior Court 2.
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On 6-29-2015 we filed a Motion in the appeal court suing the Town of Brownsburg for Costs, Damages, and Attorney Fees related to the frivolous motion to dismiss they had filed. (click here for the motion that we filed) I am hopeful the appeal court will again rule in our favor. Thank you for your continued support. |
The appeal court ruled in our favor. (Click here for appeal court ruling)
In sum, a trial court has subject matter jurisdiction to determine whether a remonstrance petition is facially sufficient under Indiana Code Section 36-4-3-11. A party seeking to challenge a remonstrance petition under that statute may not move to dismiss the petition under Trial Rule 12(B)(1). Thus, here, the trial court erred when it dismissed FABA’s remonstrance petition under Trial Rule 12(B)(1).
The appeal court ruled that: (1) any otherwise valid signatures of owners obtained prior to publication of the annexation ordinance are to be counted; and (2) only one owner need have signed on behalf of each parcel
Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
What does this mean? It means that we now go back to the trial court for our annexation remonstration hearing and declaratory judgment and damages claim.
Thanks to all for your continued support.
No ruling yet as to our annexation appeal court oral argument that was held 4-14-2015, but we did get notified on 5-12-2015 that the appeal court denied the Town of Remington amicus curiae brief.
May 12, 2015The Town of Remington recently filed a motion to dismiss against two separate annexation remonstrance; as always this was done in an attempt to deplete remonstrator financial resources and force them to give up the fight.
Now the Town of Remington has filed a notice of appearance for the Town of Remington, Indiana, a party SEEKING AMICUS CURIAE STATUS and filed an amicus brief in the appeal court case of the FABA v Town of Brownsburg Annexation case.
The Town of Remington is unfairly trying to influence the appeal court ruling in our case.
Now, we have to fight the Town of Brownsburg and the Town of Remington. We have to waste even more of our financial resources having to fight a Town that is over 150 miles away, costing us more attorney fees and expenses.
Link to appeal court CCS
https://courtapps.in.gov/docket case #32A01-1407-PL-00300
An amicus curiae (Literally "friend of the court"; plural amici curiae) is someone who is not a party to a case who offers information that bears on the case but who has not been solicited by any of the parties to assist a court. This may take the form of legal opinion, testimony or learned treatise (the amicus brief) and is a way to introduce concerns ensuring that the possibly broad legal effects of a court decision will not depend solely on the parties directly involved in the case. The decision on whether to admit the information lies at the discretion of the court. The phrase amicus curiae is legal Latin.
Please watch the FABA v Town of Brownsburg appeal court annexation oral argument held April 14, 2015.
http://mycourts.in.gov/arguments/default.aspx?id=1796&view=detail
March 25, 2015:
We have a court date!
Our annexation case is scheduled for oral argument on:
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
3:00 p.m., Indianapolis time
Indiana Supreme Court Courtroom
Statehouse, room 317
Indianapolis, Indiana, 46204
CONTRARY TO WHAT THE TOWN WANTS EVERYONE TO THINK
WE HAVE NOT BEEN ANNEXED.
Many have expressed concerns about the new Brownsburg signs that have been appearing throughout the area. Apparently, the town has too much money and is spending this excess on a lot of unattractive signs.
The Good News
Due to our ligation, we have successfully stopped the annexation for 2 years so far; which has saved each property owner from paying a monthly charge for storm water and fire protection. That is a yearly savings of $120 per parcel. All property owners already pay for fire protection through county taxes because we are protected by the Brownsburg Fire territory. I am unsure why the town charges the town residents an extra fee on top of the fee they already pay.
We have once again prevented the loss of revenue from the Brownsburg Community Schools (totaling over $800,000 for 2 years), the fire territory (totaling over $140,000 for 2 years) , the public library (totaling over $48,000 for 2 years), and Brown Township (totaling over $40,000 for 2years.
For the second year, we have saved property taxes for all property owners that would have experienced a tax increase. 611 parcels out of 1193 parcels would have experienced a tax increase. (If you want to know if and/or how much your property taxes would have increased, please call me at 812-583-0129 or send an email and I will provide you with this information.)
I plan to begin fund raising efforts again around the end of February. Many have promised donations but have failed to follow through on that promise.
If you have not already donated please do, these early donations will save us the cost of mailing a donation request to you.
Final report of the annexation study committee link below
Nov 8, 2014: Click here for the draft of the final report from the Annexation Study Committee and minutes for the Oct 22, 2014 meeting with recommended legislative changes.
Here is the link where you can get more info concerning testimony presented to the annexation study committee. http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2014/committees/i_government_interim_study_committee_on
Click below for the
June 21, 2014: On June 17, 2014 To my disbelief Judge Coleman issued an order of dismissal; but our case remains open on the issue of declaratory judgment and damages
I AM NOT DISCOURAGED. This is simply a bump in the road.
The statute simply does not support the dismissal of our claim. Nowhere in the Indiana annexation statute does it say that signatures have to be dated a certain date and it does not say that all owners have to sign to vote a parcel. I am confident that the appeal court will realize this and reverse the ruling.
June 10, 2014: Hearing was held at the Hendricks County Superior Court.
April 24, 2014: Hearing is scheduled for June 10, 2014 at 10:30am. Hearing will be held at the Hendricks County Superior Court in Danville. This hearing is relating to the town’s motion to dismiss our written remonstrance opposing the proposed north annexation.
April 15, 2014: Judge Coleman of the Hendricks County Superior Court is the Judge to which the town has finally agreed. This agreement came only after an order by Judge Kincaid that ruled the Judge would be selected from Hendricks County Superior Court Judges, as we had requested.
It is possible that Judge Coleman will recuse himself since this is his last term and he is retiring at the end of the year. If he does recuse himself, the Clerk of the Court will randomly select a Judge from the remaining Superior Court Judges as per Judge Kincaid’s order.
Click here for information history
Our litigation process:
We filed a written remonstrance and petition of declaratory judgment and damages against the town of Brownsburg on Oct 7, 2013, with over the required 65% of land owners signatures so the court could order this proposed annexation not to take place.
The town filed a motion to dismiss, trying to claim that many of our signed parcels are not valid due to the date they were signed and claiming that multi-owned parcels must be signed by all owners.
The Indiana Code governing municipal annexations does not state nor does it imply that parcels signatures must have a certain date nor does it state or imply that multi-owned parcels have to be signed by all owners in order to file a written remonstrance.
We submitted signatures of property owners on behalf of 70.66% property parcels (843 out of 1193 property parcels) included in the proposed Brownsburg north annexation territory. Our actual number of signed parcels that should count is 829 property parcels, which is 69.48%. This number was obtained after subtracting 10 parcels that have changed ownership before we filed, and 4 parcels that had previously signed waivers to remonstrance.
Many frivolous motions have been filed by the town to postpone and to cost us and the tax payers more money. We are awaiting a hearing on the motion to dismiss before we can even proceed to the hearing relating to our actual written remonstrance and declaratory judgment and damages claim.
Once this finally gets to court, I am certain we will prevail!!!!
Do to our litigation efforts we have already prevented the loss of revenue of over $550,000 that would have resulted affecting the Brownsburg community school, fire territory, police department, and the library. Not to mention the tax payer savings that has also resulted this amount totals of over $163,000 in savings to those in the proposed north annexation territory.
See below of specific Indiana code regulations: IC 36-4-3-13 Remonstrances; hearing; order; requirements
IC 36-4-3 Municipal Annexation and Disannexation http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title36/ar4/ch3.html
IC 36-4-3-13 “an annexation may be appealed by filing with the circuit or superior court of a county in which the annexed territory is located a written remonstrance signed by:
(1) at least sixty-five percent (65%) of the owners of land in the annexed territory”
(A) The following services are adequately furnished by a provider other than the municipality seeking the annexation:
(i) Police and fire protection.
(ii) Street and road maintenance.
(B) The annexation will have a significant financial impact on the residents or owners of land.
(C) The annexation is not in the best interests of the owners of land in the territory proposed to be annexed as set forth in subsection (f).
(D) One (1) of the following opposes the annexation:
(i) At least sixty-five percent (65%) of the owners of land in the territory proposed to be annexed..
(f) The municipality under subsection (e)(2)(C) bears the burden of proving that the annexation is in the best interests of the owners of land in the territory proposed to be annexed. In determining this issue, the court may consider whether the municipality has extended sewer or water services to the entire territory to be annexed:
(1) within the three (3) years preceding the date of the introduction of the annexation ordinance
IC 36-4-3-15 Remonstrances; judgment; repeal of annexation; effective date of annexation
If a judgment under section 12 or 15.5 of this chapter is adverse to annexation, the municipality may not make further attempts to annex the territory or any part of the territory during the four (4) years after the later of:
(1) the judgment of the circuit or superior court; or
(2) the date of the final disposition of all appeals to a higher court”
IC 36-4-3-15
Remonstrances; judgment; repeal of annexation; effective date of annexation
(b) If a judgment under section 12 or 15.5 of this chapter is adverse to annexation, the municipality may not make further attempts to annex the territory or any part of the territory during the four (4) years after the later of:
(1) the judgment of the circuit or superior court; or
(2) the date of the final disposition of all appeals to a higher court;
unless the annexation is petitioned for under section 5 or 5.1 of this chapter.
(e) This subsection applies if a municipality repeals the annexation ordinance:
(1) either:
(A) at least one hundred twenty-one (121) days after publication of the ordinance under section 7(a) of this chapter but before the hearing commences on the remonstrance under section 11(c) of this chapter; or
(B) after the hearing commences on the remonstrance as set forth in section 11(c) of this chapter; and
(2) before the date of the judgment of the circuit or superior court as set forth in subsection (b).
A municipality may not make further attempts to annex the territory or any part of the territory during the forty-two (42) months after the date the municipality repeals the annexation ordinance.
If you have any questions, comments, or useful information please contact:
Brownsburg North Group against Annexation
7210 E County Rd 700 N
Brownsburg, IN 46112